After a 4-8 season and the knowledge that Texas A&M would rely on a ton of newcomers, the Aggies had high hopes for a bowl season in 2009. After a 3-0 start A&M appeared well in its way despite playing a school record 17 true freshmen this season.

Even after dropping two consecutive games to Arkansas and Oklahoma State, two games most figured the Aggies would lose heading into the season, A&M was still on track to get the requisite six wins for the postseason. But after Saturday's throttling at the hands of Kansas State in Manhattan the path to the postseason has hit its first major road bump.

The shocking part of A&M's 62-14 loss is the fact that Kansas State was already one of the worst teams in the Big 12 conference. K-State had showed signs of improvement after narrowly holding off FCS opponent UMASS and losing to Louisiana-Lafayette in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Wildcats had beaten upstart Iowa State to start the conference season off with a bang, but then got pummeled 66-14 in Lubbock at the hands of Texas Tech. With A&M's offensive firepower the Aggies seemed like the predator waiting to pounce on its prey in Manhattan.

That just made the dismantling of A&M all the more of a surprise, and it's sent the Aggies spiraling down a drain that all of a sudden has a dimming light at the end of the tunnel.